This invention is in the field of cold shields for infrared detector arrays. Such arrays consist of infrared detectors grown or otherwise formed or applied to an insulating or semiconductor substrate, and have the various bias and/or read-out electrical conductors on the substrate and connected to the detectors. The arrays may be either one or two dimensional, i.e. they may consist of a single line of detectors, or multiple parallel lines. In either event, the array is cryogenically cooled and infrared radiation from some desired field-of-view is directed thereon. In order to reduce the effects of radiations from sources outside the field of view and to help establish and maintain a substantially uniform detector temperature, a cold shield may be used. The cold shields currently used are perforated plates of insulation or of metal-coated insulation which are glued by hand into the substrate holding the detector array. Since the detector arrays now commonly used are small, it is necessary to perform the gluing operation under a microscope. The operation has several disadvantages, including the difficulty of applying a uniform glue line--a typical glue line may be less than a micrometer thick and several micrometers in length and width. Moreover, it requires skilled workers to apply the shields, and only one can be applied at a time. Also, the shields require a separate processing line for their fabrication from the line used to make the arrays. All of these disadvantges combine to yield a cold shield which is very expensive to produce, compared to the cold shield as invented by the instant inventor. Specifically, the instant invention includes steps compatible with the normal steps of making the array, requires no skilled hand labor, does not require separate facilities to produce the cold shield, and is thus much cheaper and easier than the prior art methods.